


Water, Fire and Mist Chances

by bmcbapej



Series: Bemily Week (2018) [6]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Bemily Week, Day 7, F/F, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 02:38:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14010342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmcbapej/pseuds/bmcbapej
Summary: Maybe in another universe, one where they’re both a little more ordinary, they could have been something extraordinary.





	Water, Fire and Mist Chances

**Author's Note:**

> Better late than never!
> 
> Day 7: Angst

Growing up as the daughter of a literature professor meant that books were an integral part of her childhood. Beca learns from an early age that the English language is full of quirks. Take for example the words extra and ordinary.

Extra: Excess, an unneeded addition

Ordinary: Commonplace, having no special or distinctive features

But if you put them together you got something unusual, something remarkable, something _extraordinary._

* * *

The first time it happens to Emily, no one notices anything out of the ordinary. They’re on a father-daughter camping trip and her dad is trying to get the campfire going so they can roast some smores. Unfortunately, it had rained in morning and the days preceding, and their wood was absolutely soaked. While it wasn’t impossible to start a fire with wet firewood, her dad was going about it completely wrong.

After throwing away the last of his pack of matches, he grumbles and goes in search for a lighter he hopes he packed in their gear. Emily, remembering something she had seen in a cartoon once, picked up two rocks and banged them together. Nothing should have happened, but it does and a fire roars to life. She falls back in shock, but a wet butt is totally worth the excited whoop her dad gives her when he turns around.

//

The first time it happens to Beca, almost everyone notices something out of the ordinary. Her dad had left with all his belongings before the crack of dawn, leaving nothing behind except a cowardly note containing the single word ‘ _Sorry_ ’. It was a long time coming, the arguments in her house had become a part of all their daily routines. Her mum looks at the note in disgust before heading straight to the wine cabinet.

Beca’s more hurt about the lack of a proper goodbye than she is about him leaving. She thought she deserved better than that. She dealt with her anger and disappointment the same way she dealt with everything, shutting herself in her room and drowning herself in music. She is one of the few people in the town to not notice the unpredictable once-in-a-millennium freak rainstorm that happens in the middle of that Summer.

* * *

 The day Emily knows something is up is one night during a blackout. She’s home alone and working on some homework, when all of a sudden, the lights cut out. It takes her by surprise and she fumbles around in the dark, trying to find her phone so she can use it as a flashlight. She misjudges the distance between her desk and her bed, causing her to slam into the edge of the frame.

She quickly forgets about the pain shooting up her leg when every single candle in her room flares to life – even the new scented twelve-pack her mum had left at the top of her bookshelf. Remembering a ghost movie her friends had made her watch, she quickly tries to hide herself under the bed. That’s where her parents find her two hours later when they come home.

//

The day Beca knows something is amiss is when she’s walking home one Friday night. If she was going to get out of this godforsaken town and make a name for herself in LA, she was going to need money. Money that she didn’t have but was working towards getting. She couldn’t do much at the moment since school was in session and no place really wanted to hire her, so for now she had to make do with walking home every day and pocketing the bus fare she saved. It wasn’t like her alcoholic mother noticed that it took her so long to get home.

When it starts to rain, Beca wonders if maybe she should just have taken the bus that day. Pulling her hood up, she charges forward, and it’s not until two blocks later that she realises that she’s not wet. Holding her hand out, she watches the rain droplets slide off herself just like they would in the shower – only this time she couldn’t actually feel it touching her.

* * *

 Emily develops a fear of both the dark and candles that neither of her parents can explain. They’re supportive albeit confused and concerned. There are a few counselling sessions that go nowhere and the family instead stocks up on glow-in-the-dark toys and portable battery-operated lanterns.

//

Beca develops a love of water, spending hours inside the bath – sometimes just floating, sometimes completely submerging herself. Sometimes she’ll even bring the new laptop her dad mails her out of guilt into the bathroom.

* * *

The problem with bottling up all your fears and anxieties is that when they come back, they come back with a vengeance. Emily’s at an age where all her classmates are trying their hardest to fit in. They’re still young enough to be children though, and peer-pressured children can be mean. It’s on a week-long field trip that her cabinmates discover she’s still scared of the dark.

They tease her relentlessly that night, going as far as to hide her nightlight and try to scare her with creepy noises. Their malicious laughter turns to genuine terror when a devastating wildfire breaks out in the forest adjacent to their lodging. Emergency service personnel are baffled but grateful that the inferno which completely and utterly destroys the local wildlife population somehow doesn’t spread beyond the reserve.

//

The problem with pretending to not care about anything is that at the end of the day, it’s still all an act. When Beca arrives home to an empty house, she’s not immediately concerned. When it happens for the fifth day in a row, she finally admits to herself that something might be wrong. She holds out hope for another two days until she gets a call from the utility company asking why their latest bill hadn’t been paid.

She had thought a one-worded note was shitty, but this really took the cake. Seattle experiences the highest rainfall ever in recorded history. It becomes the textbook example provided whenever a climate change debate is raised.

* * *

 The first person to know Emily’s secret is her elderly neighbour. His house catches fire one night after he forgets to turn off the gas and she rushes in to rescue him without a second thought. The flames surrounding her dance enticingly, and she almost stops to caress them before a nearby coughing sounds draws her attention.

He’s trapped in a circle of fire with no way out – so Emily makes one. Later on when they’ve taken him to the hospital, nobody pays any mind to his ‘delirious’ ranting about magic and witchcraft. It’s a moment where Emily thinks that her powers might be a blessing in disguise.

//

The first person to know Beca’s secret is Chloe Beale. The redhead barges into her shower stall in one of the freshmen bathrooms and Beca’s first instinct is to protect herself from this sudden intruder. The water all around her obeys the subconscious demand to protect its master and surges forth.

Chloe slips on the wet floor and the jet of water that hits her square in the chest doesn’t help. An ambulance is called when she doesn’t wake up after hitting her head on the cold tiles. Thankfully it’s only a concussion, but Beca realises that her affinity for all things aquatic isn’t just fun and games.

* * *

 Their first meeting isn’t anything noteworthy. They’re both a little drunk and overwhelmed by the events earlier that day (Emily by her newfound Barden Bella status and Beca by her new internship). It’s an awkward conversation, something about sisters and legacies, and both are relieved when it’s interrupted by the arrival of Bumper.

There’s almost a half-foot difference between the two, but Emily can’t shake the vulnerable feeling that emerges when she looks into those mysterious dark blue eyes. Beca blames it on whatever the Trebles have put in the mystery punch, because she’s not oblivious enough to not notice the unfamiliar sensation that she’s one step away from falling apart at the seams.

//

The Bellas immediately pick up on the weird energy between their youngest captain and their newest member. Chalking it up to the fact that both of them were painfully awkward and that they just needed to spend more time together, Amy locks the two of them in the basement one night.

The basement had always creeped Beca out, what with the weird noises and the flickering lights. Emily who had never set foot down there was reacting even worse. Her breathing starts to pick up and Beca is quickly reminded of the panic attacks that Aubrey would sometimes have.

“Hey, hey, it’s gonna be fine. We’ll get out of here soon enough and then Amy’s going to be doing extra cardio for a month.” Emily makes a noise that reminds Beca of an abandoned puppy and she curses herself for not paying more attention when Chloe would try to calm Aubrey down.

Taking a leaf out of her co-captain’s book she tries to offer a hug. She’s pretty sure she’s doing it completely wrong and her limbs were in all the wrong places, but Emily responds in kind and pulls her closer.

She’s close enough to smell Emily’s perfume or shampoo or whatever, it’s surprisingly smoky and reminds Beca of the woods (she’s never been but she imagines that’s what the woods smells like). Emily can smell the top of Beca’s head and it reminds her of the ocean and late-night fishing with her family. The dark wasn’t as scary when you weren’t alone.

//

The first time they kiss is in the front seat of Beca’s car outside the Bella House. Their spirits were high after the positive feedback Sammy had given them both about their collaboration. Emily was singing along to the radio the entire way home and Beca may or may not have joined in after a few songs.

After putting the gear into park and killing the engine, they sit there listening to someone dedicate a Snow Patrol song to their girlfriend. As the chorus began a second time, Emily drew up the courage to lean over and pull Beca into a kiss. Beca tenses in surprise for a few seconds before melting into it. It lasts until one of them moves a little too far forward and the car horn lets out a loud honk.

They jerk away in surprise before breaking out into laughter. Neither of them comments on the fact that the car windows have all completely fogged up.

//

Beca knows that a relationship built on lies wasn’t going to last. It’s what tore her parents apart, and it’s what helped pushed Jesse away (that and they simply weren’t compatible). So Beca sits Emily down one day when they have the house to themselves and admits her special secret. Out of all the scenarios she had played out in her mind, a “Me too.” moment was nowhere on the list.

Emily feels a relief she didn’t know was even possible when she lays herself bare. They talk about anything and everything even after the sun sets. They talk about their past, their fears, their hopes and their dreams.

The future looks bright and as the fall sleep in each other’s arms, Emily mumbles, “Maybe this is the universe saying we belong together.”

//

The first big fight they have is over something stupid. Emily was stressed over her studies and Beca was stressed about her new job. The former had picked up an extra unit which came with an insane workload, while the latter was getting assigned ten times as many tasks as she was when she was interning.

It’s an argument that escalates until they both notice that the stir-fry that was being cooked on the stove was on fire and their dishwasher was leaking. They both scramble into action, quarrel quickly forgotten. Later when they’re sitting on some towels, with the smell of burnt food in the air that a deeper worry begins to set in.

//

They’re walking on eggshells with each other, looking for signs that the other might be upset and it begins to put a strain on their relationship. It’s only when Beca finds herself staring at the houseplants wondering if they just weren’t responding well to the Summer heat or if Emily was secretly unhappy that she decides that this can’t go on.

“Dude, we just need to like, talk more and stuff. Open communication or whatever, just make sure nothing builds up or anything.”

//

When Emily’s test scores come back a lot higher than she expected, she’s over the moon about it. Her cranky old Cognitive Psychology demonstrator can suck it. The day only gets better when she finds out that Beca’s finished work early and prepared a fancy dinner (and by prepared she meant ordered because the only thing the former captain could cook was cereal).

They have a few drinks and Emily literally snorts out her wine when Beca tells her all about some new artist they’ve signed named Pimp Lo. Beca isn’t any better when Emily relays the story of the guy in her Biological Psychology class that had forgotten to wear pants to class.

The night ends with the two of them in bed, tangled within the sheets. It’s a soft, tender and beautiful experience. Had Emily known this would be their last night together, she might have never left.

//

They awake the next morning to heart-breaking news. Two house fires and a flood had devastated the community the night before. Fifteen people were hospitalized and two had died – one of smoke inhalation, the other of drowning. They sit on opposite ends of the couch, breakfast long forgotten.

Beca had plenty of practice with goodbyes, but never one where neither party wanted to separate. She thinks it hurts more than every other kind of goodbye put together.

* * *

On the nights where Beca lets her mind drift, her thoughts always seem to find their way back to Emily. She wonders how the girl’s doing, if she’s happy, if she’s found someone else to be happy with. She hopes so. Hopes that Emily’s living a full enough life for the both of them.

Beca’s not stupid enough to say she has a hard life. She’s doing pretty well for herself. She owns her apartment outright, has a stable job and friends who stop by every now and again (she pretends to hate Chloe’s dog but the little fluffball is truthfully a little endearing).

That doesn’t mean she can’t dream though. Dream of a world where she and Emily don’t have any extra talents. A world where they’re both a little more ordinary. A world where they could have been something extraordinary together.

**Author's Note:**

> All the sad stories written for Day 7 are really taking their toll on me :(  
> I'm hoping to find some tooth-rotting fluff for Day 8 to make up for it.


End file.
